First Family Camping Trip!

We have been promising to take the boys camping for a few years now, but we never seem to be able to get it done.  For starters, we don't even own any camping equipment.  I finally bought folding chairs for our soccer games this year, but that's about it.  

Well, our friends invited us to go camping at the end of the summer so we jumped on the opportunity to say yes.  We borrowed alllll the equipment from our very kind neighbors, and off we went!  

Don and I didn't sleep at all (tooo cold), but the kids slept very well!  I'd say the lack of sleep was worth it though, because I feel like it was a core memory for the kids.

Our campsite was beautiful!

The kids played cards in the evenings after dinner.  A fun group of friends!

Every night was such an adventure for the boys!  When your family doesn't camp, sleeping in a tent/sleeping bag is jackpot!

Our neighbors let us borrow the best setup.  They are camping pros, and our tent sleeping arrangements were ah-mazing. 

We went on a little hike along the rim of Cedar Breaks National Park.  The views are stunning!

The whole group...Goodmans + Hardys.

Kids!

Our little neighbor, Dean, loves the boys.  He is getting into trains now because of Owen.  Cuties.

We attempted to go canoeing at Navajo Lake but were foiled by strong winds and deep muck.  The canoes kept literally getting stuck in the muck, and nobody was able to paddle out. 

Evening ice cream in Duck Creek Village.

Don and Joel took the older kids stargazing at Cedar Breaks.  The park rangers set up huge telescopes to teach the kids all about stars, constellations, planets, etc.  

Last year when we went, Auggie and I saw Venus!  Owen was too little to stay up that time, so he was beyond excited to finally get to go with the big kids.  They got back to the tent at 11pm, but Don said it was very worth it because all the kids returned giddy and awestruck.  The sky was clear and the stars were bright that night, so I can only imagine!

I don't have a picture, but another highlight of the trip was the mountain biking.  Our friends told us to bring the kid's bikes, which we initially questioned?  But then they explained that it was one of their favorite activities of camping.  We are so glad we listened!  

Don took the all the boys mountain biking on a trail just behind our campsite everyday, and they couldn't get enough of it.  They all woke up wanting to ride, ride, ride.

First official family camping trip...perfect.